Embracing the Bad Stuff...

I learned a very valuable nugget and I want to share it with you.

I always thought that I needed to forgive and forget. That is how you move on with your life, right? 

Along my journey of learning to love myself, I have found that I can't do that. It doesn't serve me to forget. Forgiveness is vital, but forgetting isn't. 

My path has been a dark one at times. I've been abused mentally, verbally and physically. I've been bullied and manipulated. I've learned that I couldn't always trust the people in my life that I should have always been able to trust. I endured the suicide of a spouse. I am a two-time cancer survivor. I've been cheated on, lied to, and made to feel very unworthy, untouchable, and unlovable. Under the influence of all these things and events, I had horrible self-esteem. I made terrible choices that made me feel like I was just as much a monster as any of the people who participated in the list above. 

I hated myself. I hated my life. I hated where I was. 

As I worked on loving myself, sometimes one breath at a time, I learned that I needed to forgive all of those people...including myself. I thought my next step was to forget.

But I learned that what I really needed to do was to embrace it... ALL OF IT! That is one tall order! However, I have come to realize that every moment of my life from my very first breath until this moment right now has made me who I am today. With self-love and without conceit I can tell you who I am:

I Am Strong!

I Am Determined!

I Am Loving!

I Am Caring!

I Am Honest!

I Am Empathetic!

I Am Beautiful!

I Am Worthy!

I Am Successful!

I Am Brave!

I Am Creative!

I Am Driven!

I can tell you that without the life experiences that I have had, I would not be the person that I am today. I would not have felt the need to learn how to love myself and to self-reflect to improve my life. I would not have walked the path that brings me to writing this post, and this post is for you.

I am writing to encourage you to forgive and embrace. Forgive others and forgive yourself. Embrace who you are today so that you can grow. Embrace the fact that you are the sum total of everything you have lived through until this very moment. Learn from your past experiences so that you can make different and more positive choices in your future.

You can do it! I know you can because I did and I still walk that path every single day. Loving yourself is, in fact, a journey and not a destination.

As always, your mileage may vary.

Much Love,

~Lady Misty

If this post impacted you, leave a comment, join my email subscription list, get one of my journals, send me an email, message me on one of my social media accounts...let me know that I'm not just walking through all of this healing alone and that I am helping someone else feel good about themselves.